Coversheet


Agenda Item 5.


TRANSPORTATION AGENCY FOR MONTEREY COUNTY *Memorandum*

To:	Bicycle and Pedestrian Facilities Advisory Committee
From:	Stefania Castillo, Transportation Planner
Meeting Date:	February 4, 2021
Subject:	Regional Traffic Counts Program

RECOMMENDED ACTION:
RECEIVE presentation on the Transportation Agency’s regional traffic counts program.

SUMMARY:
The Transportation Agency collects traffic data twice a year on regional roadways. Data is collected once in March or April (off-peak) and again in August or September (peak). Staff will provide a demonstration on how to view/download the traffic data that is posted on the Agency's website.

FINANCIAL IMPACT:

On February 26, 2020 the Transportation Agency's Board of Directors approved a three-year contract with Innovative Data Acquisitions to conduct traffic counts at 179 locations throughout Monterey County for calendar years 2020, 2021 and 2022. The $91,056 contract amount includes pedestrian and bicycles counts required for Agency projects the receive funds from the state active transportation program. The contract also allows for local jurisdictions to request additional counts at reimbursement by the jurisdiction making the request.

DISCUSSION:

The Transportation Agency's primary goal for collecting new regional traffic counts is to provide fresh data for the Association of Monterey Bay Area Government's regional travel demand model. Count locations are on the county's regional road and highway network.

Traffic data is collected twice a year, once in March or April (off-peak) and again in August or September (peak). Traffic counts are conducted over a two-day 24-hour vehicle count period, either on a Tuesday/Wednesday or Wednesday/Thursday. The Average Daily Traffic (ADT) is the measure used by the Agency. The 24-hour counts for the two-day period are averaged together to arrive at the Average Daily Traffic.

The historical traffic counts data is available to view/download as a Microsoft Excel file on the Transportation Agency's website at the following link: www.tamcmonterey.org/traffic-counts. The traffic counts data is also posted in map format showing the peak and off-peak Average Daily Traffic for each location.

The off-peak 2020 counts were canceled due to COVID-19 shelter-in-place order. Peak 2020 counts were conducted during the state and local shelter-in-place orders. Staff will provide a comparison of the 2019 and 2020 Average Daily Traffic counts.